Dairy Breakfast Time

June is Dairy month - and here in America's Dairyland one of the best ways we cheese-lovers celebrate is the Breakfast on the Farm.

The Zander family farm northeast of Mt. Horeb hosted the Dane County breakfast over the weekend.

Thousands attended.  We got there just after serving started and only had a ten minute wait (early crowd picture below), by the time we left the line to eat was easily 5 times longer (picture at bottom of page).

Breakfast was Scrambled Eggs with cheese, pancakes, sausage, choice of small cheese chunks, and two scoops of ice cream for dessert.  The ice cream came from the University's Babcock Hall - it was a strawberry ripple with chunks of chocolate and pretzel inside.  Yum!  It was a delicious breakfast washed down with a pint of chocolate milk.

The farm breakfast is a community effort.  The host family gets help from the local Future Farmers of America chapter, other farms, and community organizations who join together. 

Dozens of volunteers help with preparations and then making and serving breakfast for hundreds at a time.

The Zander farm is on top of a hill with beautiful countryside spread all around.

The farm looked great.  Weather cooperated to allow hay to be cut and baled to create convenient places to park.  But what struck me the most was how clean everything was.

It's a working farm, and I can only guess at the amount of effort to clean up every nook and cranny and then keep it clean.

The Zanders milk around 250 cows on their farm.  A big farm, to be sure, but there are much larger dairy herds around the state.  The family operation is moving into its third generation, a traditional operation in that sense, but also a dairy farm that is all business - it used to be said that a farmer could run the farm out of his front shirt pocket.  Those days are past, and the future is now.


I didn't grow up on a farm, but since I like to eat and especially enjoy a wide variety of dairy products - these kind of community/farm opportunities are a great time to express appreciation and thanks for the families that feed us and most of the world everyday.

Add to that unusual circumstance of getting an up close and personal look at a dairy operation, and it is a prime community event with local radio and TV, plus local businesses and citizens who rally around the state's number one industry.

There are two more weekends left this Dairy month - be sure to look for a farm breakfast near you so you can see it up close. 

My personal favorite item from a dairy breakfast I remember enjoying in Eau Claire county years ago - Culver's Frozen Custard, topped with fresh strawberries, and then covered in Frosted Flakes.   They're Great!

If you like eating - thank a farmer today.